Action man Putin plays it cool on Siberian getaway
After war of words with Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin heads to Siberia to show ‘love for Russia and its vast territory’.
President Putin got behind the wheel of an all-terrain vehicle in Siberia this weekend in his latest attempt to portray a man-of-action image.
Putin, 68, was accompanied on his getaway break by Sergei Shoigu, his defence minister. They walked across a swaying rope bridge, went fishing and trudged through knee-depth snow to a remote ruin, according to images published by state media. The Kremlin did not reveal exactly where in Siberia they had spent their weekend.
After their exertions, Putin and Shoigu, 65, dined on sausage, tomatoes, cucumbers and radishes at a table in a clearing in a birch forest. Their seats were draped with animal furs. “This is a good place,” Putin said. They also observed wildlife through binoculars and visited Shoigu’s workshop, where he showed off his collection of wooden sculptures with neat rows of chisels and power tools.
Putin, who has sought to cultivate an image of a healthy and virile leader, has spent most of the pandemic at his countryside residence near Moscow.
State media had been reduced to hailing the president’s ability at catching pencils as they rolled off his desk.
On Thursday he unexpectedly addressed 80,000 people at a stadium in Moscow to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea.
In Siberia Putin wore hunting gear priced at about 70,000 roubles ($AU1280), according to TV Dozhd, an online opposition channel. The average monthly pension in Russia is just under 16,000 roubles ($AU278).
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said that the president’s trip was an illustration of his love for Russia and its vast territory. Pro-Kremlin social media users gleefully compared Putin’s action-packed weekend to President Biden’s fall on the steps of Air Force One on Friday.
Last week Putin challenged the US president to an online debate, but the White House said that Biden, 78, was too busy. The Russian leader’s critics noted that he has not participated in a public debate with a Russian politician since he came to power in 2000.
Shoigu, once tipped as Putin’s successor, is the president’s favoured companion for Siberian holidays. In 2019 the men picked wild mushrooms in Tuva, Shoigu’s home region in southern Siberia, to celebrate Putin’s 67th birthday.
The Times
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